U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner and U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado have introduced bills in Congress that would raise the spending cap on the Denver VA Medical Center project while also freezing bonuses for U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs officials.

The bills from the two Republicans would keep officials from getting bonuses until the facility in Aurora is fully operational, in addition to requiring an investigation into cost overruns at the hospital and transferring all future construction authority for VA hospitals to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

An $800 million spending cap was placed on the project by Congress that now must be raised in order to make available the money needed to finish building the hospital.

"The VA paying out bonuses while veterans go without the care they need is completely unacceptable," Gardner said. "This legislation would start to hold the VA accountable for their failures while also making sure that this critical facility is, at long last, completed."

"The massive VA mismanagement of this hospital is offensive to the veterans it is supposed to serve and offensive to taxpayers funding the project," said Coffman, D-Aurora. "My bill would help get the hospital built for the veterans who deserve the care it will provide, while holding the VA accountable for its failures and ensure this never happens again."

The VA pays out hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses every year, Coffman's office said, including $360 million authorized for bonuses in fiscal 2015.

The official responsible for the VA's construction projects, Glenn Haggstrom, has received nearly $64,000 in bonuses since 2007, according to Coffman's office.